New investigation by US, Russian and German newspapers accuses Russian agency of ‘Havana syndrome’

New investigation by US, Russian and German newspapers accuses Russian agency of ‘Havana syndrome’
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A Russia could be behind cases of “Havana syndrome”, a set of inexplicable symptoms that US government agents U.S have suffered in recent years, says an investigation carried out by CBS television, by the Russian outlet The Insider and the German magazine Der Spiegel. The reports suggest, but do not prove, that a Russian Military Intelligence group is responsible for the attacks.

The syndrome dates back to 2016, when US officials in Cuba began reporting symptoms that included headaches, dizziness, blurred vision and memory loss after hearing strange noises and feeling strange sensations. Since then, more than 200 American diplomats, intelligence officials and their families in different countries have reported the set of symptoms.

Just over a year ago, US intelligence concluded that it was “highly unlikely” that a foreign adversary would cause the so-called “Havana syndrome.” Similarly, the most recent Annual Threat Assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, published on February 5 of this year, concluded that the symptoms “were likely the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary.”

But the year-long investigation by journalists, released on Sunday, 30, suggests that the health incidents may have their origins in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of the Unit 29155a squadron of the Military Intelligence Service of Moscow notorious for foreign assassinations and other activities designed to destabilize European countries.

In 2020, the US National Academy of Sciences had already identified the use of “pulsed and targeted radio frequency” energy as a possible cause of the incidents, but there was little evidence until now about a perpetrator.

According to the Insidermembers of this unit have received awards and political promotions for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons”, a term used in Russian military-scientific literature to describe directed energy devices based on radiofrequency and sound.

“The Insider, 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel have uncovered documentary evidence that Unit 29155 has been experimenting with exactly the kind of weaponized technology that experts suggest is a plausible cause of the mysterious medical condition,” says the Insider.

Furthermore, it informed the Insidergeolocation data shows that operators linked to Unit 29155, traveling undercover, were present in places where the syndrome Havana occurred, shortly before the incidents occurred.

‘Havana Syndrome’ dates back to 2016, when American officials in Cuba first reported the cluster of symptoms. In the photo, US Embassy in Cuba. Photograph: AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, Archive

The investigation also states that the American employees who reported symptoms have something in common: they were involved in Russia-related issues during their work.

“Of all the cases examined by The Insider, 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, the best documented involve U.S. diplomatic and intelligence personnel with subject matter expertise in Russia or operational experience in countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, two post-Russian states. Soviets who went through pro-Western ‘color revolutions’ in the last two decades”, says the investigation.

‘Does not provide serious elements’

The investigation report disclosed the testimony of Mar Polymeropoulos, identified as a former operations officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the USA, with assignments in places such as Baghdad and Kabul, who suffered symptoms related to “Havana syndrome” after a trip to Moscow in 2017.

The symptoms, according to that report, corresponded to “Havana syndrome,” and for years Polymeropoulos had to fight to access the medical care his condition required. O 60 Minutes noted that, according to several of his sources last year, when President Joe Biden attended a US summit NATO at Lithuaniaa high-ranking official from the Pentagon It got sick.

60 Minutes noted that when Biden attended a NATO summit in Lithuania last year, a senior Pentagon official became ill. Photograph: AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, archive

On Monday, 1st, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the department still trusts the assessment made by the United States government that the syndrome is not related to sabotage by enemies.

“The general conclusion of the intelligence community as of March 2023 is that a foreign adversary is unlikely to be responsible for these anomalous health incidents,” Miller said. “It is something that the intelligence community has investigated extensively and continues to analyze. We will analyze new information as it comes in and make assessments within the State Department and with our intelligence community.”

Likewise, the lead investigator into the incidents in Cuba, Mitchell Valdés-Sosa, told the Associated Press that the new report failed to provide any scientific basis to substantiate the existence of Havana syndrome.

“I think this journalistic investigation does not provide serious elements, especially that there is a new disease caused by a mysterious energy,” he said. “The symptoms are very varied: balance problems, sleep problems, dizziness, concentration difficulties and many illnesses can cause them.”/EFE, Associated Press and Washington Post.

The article is in Portuguese

Tags: investigation Russian German newspapers accuses Russian agency Havana syndrome

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